The Ladies Benevolent Society will hold a tag sale Saturday at the Shaw-Hudson House on Main Street.

Members have spent the past several weeks collecting items from the people in town ranging from books and crafts to clothes, toys, and kitchen utensils.

These, along with baked goods and locally grown and raised food, will be sold at Saturday’s event.

Proceeds will go back to the town in the form of donations to a variety departments and services.

“We spread the money around so it benefits a lot of things like the library, the Shaw Hudson House, and the police and fire departments,” society member Ruby Goodnoff said. “We only keep enough to cover our operating expenses.”

Goodnoff said the society has been in continuous existence for 150 years, raising money for various town entities.

“We are a real old fashioned town,” Goodnoff said. “We still only charge the original 25 cents for membership dues.”

Goodnoff said she hopes the society will continue into the future, though she wonders.

“We have about 10 to 15 women, and we are all getting on in years,” Goodnoff said. “But I guess that is just the nature of small towns. Young people don’t want to stay and farm, and there are not a lot of other businesses here.”

The tag sale will begin at 10 a.m. and run until 2 p.m.

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Worthington’s memorial

car show

Some 50 and 85 cars of varying ages and styles will be on display at Worthington’s 6th annual memorial car show Saturday.

Organizers say the car show has become a big event for the town in the past few years, growing to incorporate musical entertainment, raffles, food and local crafts and activities for children.

“It is a big town affair,” organizer Pat Nugent said.

Free and open to the public, all proceeds raised from the sale of food, crafts, raffle and donations go to the Cancer Connection and Cooley Dickinson VNA & Hospice.

“We started the show as a one-time event to honor my neighbor Nancy Challet who passed away from breast cancer and lung cancer,” Nugent said. “Then we started losing more people to cancer so we continued, and it became the memorial car show.”

Challet was a nurse who lived her whole life in Worthington.

“She was a beloved member of the community,” said volunteer Helen Myrick.

This year, the show is dedicated to memory of Connie Granger, who recently died after her struggle with cancer. Granger was very involved helping to produce the event.

The event will be held at Moran Field next to the Town Hall on Huntington road.

Nugent said the show has raised $20,000 over the years, $18,000 of which has gone to the Cancer Connection, a Northampton-based nonprofit that offers services to people diagnosed with cancer and their families.

The memorial car show runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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Meekins invites feedback

As part of a log term planning process, Meekins Library is inviting out of town patrons to participate in a focus group to air their ideas and opinions on how the library might improve and strengthen its services.

“We have been engaged in the planning process for a few months now,” Library Director Lisa Wenner said. “We realized that one of the groups that we haven’t talked with, is people who do not live in town.”

Wenner said the library has a substantial number of out-of-town patrons.

“We have a lot of people that frequently use the library that don’t live in town, so this is an important group to hear from as we look down the road for the next few years.”

On Wednesday at 7 p.m., Jason Heffner will facilitate a meeting specifically geared to library patrons who do not live in Williamsburg.

To get as much input as possible, the library will also hold similar meetings for the town’s various boards and committees, and a survey will be available both online and in print form in September.

“We really hope to get a good turnout on Wednesday,” Wenner said. “This kind of input will help see what is ahead library services and materials in the next few years.”

For people who cannot attend any of the focus groups, Wenner says they can still make their voices heard. “It is also important to note that I am always open to anybody who wants to bring their ideas and concerns to me,” Wenner added.

Fran Ryan can be reached at fryan.gazette@gmail.com Items for this column can be sent to her at that address.